Featured Articles – March 2009 Archive (7)

The men's quarterfinal lineup is set at the Sony Ericsson Open and it's about as good as it gets. Seven of the top eight seeds made it through, with the exception being Gilles Simon (it's hard to see him ranked ahead of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga).

I figured five of them would get through over at Tennis Talk, Anyone? and was looking at Tsonga, Radek Stepanek and David Ferrer as my Cinderella stories. (Elite… Continue

Four top 10 players got knocked out today with Dinara Safina, Vera Zvonareva, Ana Ivanovic and Nadia Petrova falling to Sam Stosur, Li Na, Agnes Szavay and Ekaterina Makarova, respectively. I wasn't expecting any of those top players to win—I still think it's Serena's to lose—but my personal picks took a hit with Zvonareva and Ivanovic falling. Safina's been in a bad way lately (like Jelena Jankovic, who lost… Continue

Ask any serious triathlete what his resting heart rate is, chances are you won't have to wait long for an answer. Likewise, ask a marathoner about her average mile time and the answer will generally come forthwith, and accurate to the hundredth of a second.

And if you're talking tennis, it's all about the NTRP rating.

The USTA's National Tennis Rating Program (NTRP) is the official system for determining the levels of competition for all players. At first, a… Continue

Last night was the first match of my second league. I came off to a great start, winning 6-4, 6-0.

The simplest analysis of the match was that in the first set, unforced errors were killing me - especially on the shots that I had the most time to prepare for. It's like the longer I think about it, the better the chance I'm going to overkill it, or plot it right into the net. During the second set, I toned it down more, and my shots became more planned and consistent, which made a big… Continue

Many individuals and organizations have contributed to today's state-of-the-tennis-art. From racket materials and geometry to court surfaces and strings, artists, craftsmen and engineers combine skills and knowledge to deliver recreational, professional and entertainment experience enjoyable by all.

This blog will discuss tennis from a technical perspective. What do racket ratings mean? How can a player seperate substance from advertising fluff? Why do different rackets produce… Continue